SOME interesting observations from readers last year were not included in Eye on Nature due to pressure of space. For instance, on April 2nd, Martin Ryan, of Athlone saw a huge flock of about 6,000 blacktailed godwits, in three parties, resting on the callows south of the town. They were on their migration north from their wintering-grounds on the Little Brosna.
A little later on in the year, Tim O'Brien of Glenageary watched gulls harassing a seal at Diin Laoghaire, and on another occasion harassing a heron and driving it out to sea. The gulls were practising what the books call kleptoparasitism on the heron - that is, harassing other birds to steal their food. Skirmishes between gulls and herons are 9uite common. The gulls may have regarded the seal as a competitor for local food supplies, and so drove it away.
Crows are noted for their intriguing behaviour. One cold May evening Kenneth Collins of Clonsilla saw a pair of crows near a chimney, each in turn hopping on the rim of the chimney pipe and spreading the underside of its wings over the smoke. The birds changed position about every 30 seconds, and continued with this manoeuvre for more than 10 minutes. They might have been warming themselves, but it is also possible that they were using the smoke to rid themselves of parasites.